Buying animals from pet stores only adds to the tragedy of dog and cat overpopulation as most puppies in pet stores are bought wholesale from puppy mills, which are nothing more than mass breeding facilities. The majority of puppy mills are in the rural Midwest, particularly Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Arkansas. It is estimated that some 5,000 puppy mills are operating today, breeding more than one half million dogs a year. Many puppies in these assembly-line businesses are housed in crammed, make-shift cages. They are usually outdoors during the freezing winter and grueling summer heat. They receive inadequate nourishment and poor medical care, and endure the stress of being shipped long distances at an early age, as young as four to five weeks. And because they receive deficient care they are highly prone to disease.
Owning a dog is a responsibility, one that includes ensuring that the future of the dog population does not increase, and that breeding should ONLY be done by professional people! Professionals are the ones who have THOROUGHLY researched both the breed and their particular dog's line of breed, have made sure that they have been cleared of all major defects (by Breed Club standards), going back generations, and have waited until the dog is of the proper age to breed. For anyone wanting to make a profit in Responsible Breeding, well, it is just not worth it. The time, effort and money that is involved does not make this a profitable venture. Breeding should be done by experienced people that want only to better the breed! For this reason, the rest of us should spay and neuter our dogs as soon as possible (before 6 months of age).
If you are ready to have a dog or cat in your life, please adopt one from an animal shelter and give a home to an animal in need. You can be assured that the shelter will spay or neuter your new family member prior to bringing him home.
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